The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-04-28

| the uOVeS INTO tne ark ne WOulu only udVS
scattered them. Some parents are not
| wise about these things. They make iron
rules about Sabbaths, and they force the
catechism down the throat as they would
hold the child's nose and force down
dose of rhubarb or calomel. You can hot
drive your children into the ark You can
| draw your children to Christ, but you can
| not coerce them. The cross was lifted not
to drive, but to draw.
| If be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me,
AS the sun draws up the drops of morn
| ing dew, SO the sun of righteousness ex-
hales the tears of repentance.
| Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
Be sure that you bring your husband
| and wife with you. How would Noah have
felt if, when he heard the rain pattering
on the roof of the ark, he knew that his
wife was outside in the storms No. she
went with him. And yet some of you are
on the ship outward bound" for Heaven,
but your companion is unsheltered. You
remember the day when the marriage
ring was set Nothin has yet been able
to break it. Sickness came, and the finger
| shranl1 but the ring stad on. The twain
stood alone above child's grave, and the
| dark mouth of the tomb swallowed up
thousand hopes; but the ring dropped not
| into the open grave. Days of poverty
came, and the hand did many hard days
| work; but the rubbing of the work against
the ring only made it shine brighter
Shall that ring ever be losts Will the
| iron clang of the sepulcher-gate crush
it forevers pray God that you who have
been married on earth may be together in
heaven. Oh! by the quiet bliss of your
earthly homo; by the babe's cradle; by all
the vows of that day when you started
life together, l beg you to see to- it that you
| both get into the ak.
Come in, and bring your wife or your
husband with you-not by fretting about
religion, or ding -donging them about re-
ligion. but by consistent life and by a
compelling prayer that shall bring the
| throne of God down into your bedroom
Better live in the smallest house in
the city and get into heaven than live
fifty years in the finest house in the
| land and wake up at last and find that
one OF you, for all eternity, is outside the
ark. Go home tonight, lock the door
of your room, take up the Bible and
read it together and then kueel down
and commend your souls to Him who has
watched you all these years; and before
| you rise there will be fluttering of
wings over your head, angel crying to an.
| gel:
tBehold, they prayr'
But this does not include all your fam.
| lily. Bring the children, too God bless
the dear childrenl What would our homes
be without them? We may have done
much for them. They may have done
more for US. What salve for wound
ed heart there is in the soft palm of
child's hand! Did harp or flute ever have
such music as there is in child's ''Good
l 5rht
angels of God are often driven back, but
who comes into the nursery without
feeling that angels are lowering
around9 They who die in in
| fancy go into glory, but you are
expecting your children to grow up IN this
world. Is it not question, then, that
| rings through all the corridors, AMI wind
| ings, and heights and depths of your soul
what is to become of your sons and
| daughters for time and eternity?
''O" you say. Imean to see that they
| have good manners"
| Very we'll.
Il mean to dress them well, if l have
| myself to go shabby"
Very good.
II shall give them an education, aud I
shall leave them fortune"
| every we'll But is that all? Don't you
mean to take them into the ark? Don't
| you know that the storm is coming and
that out of Christ there is no safety: no
| pardon? no hope? no Heaven9
| How TO get them inl Go in yourself. If
Noah had stayed out do you not suppose
| that his sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet.
would have stayed out? Your sons aud
| daughters will be apt to do just } you do.
Reject Christ yourself and the probability
| is that your children will reject him.
An account was taken of the reli gious
condition of families in certain district
| In the families Of pious parents two-thirds
| of the children were Christians In the
| families where the parents were ungodly,
| only one-twelfth of the children were
Christians. Responsible, as you are, for
| their temporal existence, you are also re-
| sponsible for their eternity Which way
will you take them2 Out into the deluge.
or into the ark? Have YOU ever made one
earnest prayer for their immortal soulsg
What will you say in the Judgment, when
| God asks:
''Where is George, or Henry, or Frank,
| or Mary, or Anna Where are those pre-
| into your hands?'
A dying son said to his father:
'Father, you gave me an education, and
| good manners, and every thing that the
world could do for me; but, father, you
never told me how to die, and now my soul
| is going out in the Darkness
In st. Pauls, London, there is whs-
pering gallery. A voice uttered most
feebly at one side Of the gallery is heard
distinctly at the opposite side, great dis
| lance off. So, every word of earnest
| prayer goes all around the e1rth, and
makes Heaven whispering gallery Go
| into the ark-not to sit down, but to stand
| in the door, and call until all the family
| come in. Aged Noah, where is Japhets
David, where is Absaloms Hannah, where
| is Samuel! Bring them in through
| Christ, the door. Would it not be pleas
| ant to spend eternity with our famiIiess
Gladder than Christmas or Than ks giving
festival will be the reunion. if we get all
| our family into the ark. Which of them
can we spare out of heavena
On one of the late steamers there were
father and two daughters journeying.
They seemed extremely poor A benevo
lent gentleman stepped up to the poor
man to proffer some form of relief, and
said:
'sYou seem to be very poor, sir"